The Stuarts - Monarchs - 1603 - 1714 | HistoryOnTheNet The Stuarts - Monarchs - 1603 - 1714 Last Updated: 08/14/2014 - 16:47 The first Stuart monarch, James I of England and VI of Scotland, succeeded to the throne of England when Elizabeth I died. He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots by her second husband Lord Darnley, and great-great grandson of Henry VIII's sister Margaret. In all there were seven Stuart monarchs: James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II Anne. The period from 1649 to 1660 was an interregnum (time without a monarch), that saw the development of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. James I (1603 - 1625) The accession of James VI of Scotland as James I of England, united the countries of England and Scotland under one monarch for the first time. James believed in the Divine Right of Kings - that he was answerable to God alone and could not be tried by any court.

He forbade any interpretation of church doctrine different to his own and made Sunday Church-going compulsory. Catholics were not allowed to celebrate Mass and he refused to listen to Puritan demands for church reform , instead authorising use of the King James Bible that is still in existence today. James I also introduced English and Irish Protestants into Northern Ireland through the Ulster Plantation scheme and tried to keep England at peace with the rest of Europe. Although he was a clever man, his choice of favourites alienated Parliament and he was not able to solve the country's financial or political problems. When he died in 1625 the country was badly in debt. Charles I (1625 - 1649) Charles I came to the throne after his father's death. He did not share his father's love of peace and embarked on war with Spain and then with France. In order to fight these wars he needed Parliament to grant him money. However, Parliament was not happy with his choice of favourites, especially the Duke of Buckingham and made things difficult for him. In 1629 he dismissed Parliament and decided to rule alone for the next 11 years.

Like his father he also believed in the Divine Right of Kings and he upset his Scottish subjects, many of whom were Puritans, by insisting that they follow the same religion as his English subjects. The result was the two Bishops Wars (1639-1640) Charles' financial state had worsened to such a degree that he had no choice but to recall a Parliament whose condemnation of his style of rule would lead the country to Civil War and Charles I to his execution in 1649. Interregnum Oliver Cromwell (1649 - 1658) In 1649, Oliver Cromwell took the title Lord Protector of the newly formed republic in England, known as the Commonwealth. His parliament consisted of a few chosen supporters and was not popular either at home or abroad. Cromwell disliked the Irish Catholics and, on the pretence of punishment for the massacre of English Protestants in 1641, he lay siege to the town of Drogheda in 1649 and killed most of its inhabitants. Having conquered Ireland he declared war on the Netherlands - England's greatest trade rival. He went on to establish colonies in Jamaica and the West Indies.

Although he faced opposition from those who supported Charles I's son, Charles II, as the rightful King, (especially the Scots), Oliver Cromwell succeeded in establishing a sound reputation for the Commonwealth by the time of his death in 1658. He was succeeded by his son Richard, who had no wish to rule. Cromwell's opponents were easily able to overthrow him and after a period of anarchy the monarchy was restored with the accession of Charles II. Charles II (1660 - 1685) After the execution of his father in 1649, Charles assumed the title Charles II of England, and was formally recognised as King of Scotland and Ireland. In 1651 he led an invasion into England from Scotland to defeat Cromwell and restore the monarchy. He was defeated and fled to France where he spent the next eight years. In 1660 he was invited, by parliament, to return to England as King Charles II. This event is known as the Restoration . He is known as the 'Merry Monarch' because of his love of parties, music and the theatre and his abolishment of the laws passed by Cromwell that forbade music and dancing.

Charles was extravagant with money and was forced to marry Portuguese Catherine of Braganza for the large dowry she would bring. He continued to have money problems and allied England with France, a move that led to war with the Dutch and the acquisition of New Amsterdam (now New York) for England. Charles II died in 1685. James II (1685 - 1688) James II succeeded his brother Charles to the throne. After the Restoration he had served as Lord High Admiral until he announced his conversion to Roman Catholicism and was forced to resign. He succeeded despite the passing of the Test Acts in 1673 (which barred all Roman Catholics from holding official positions in Great Britain) and the efforts of Parliament to have him by-passed. The Duke of Monmouth immediately mounted an uprising against James II but it was crushed and a series of treason trials known as the Bloody Assizes followed. The Lord Chief Justice, George Jeffreys, sentenced more than 300 people to death and had another 800 forcibly sold into slavery.

The Bloody Assizes led to an increasing number of calls for James to be replaced by his son-in-law, William of Orange and in 1688 the Dutchman was invited to take the English throne. William's subsequent invasion of England and accession to the throne is known as The Glorious Revolution . James fled to France where he lived until his death in 1701. William III (1688 - 1702) and Mary II (1688 -1694) William III and his wife Mary II (daughter of James II), were proclaimed joint sovereigns of England in 1688 following the Glorious Revolution. They were accepted by Scotland the following year, but Ireland, which was mainly Catholic , remained loyal to James II. William led an army into Ireland and James was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Mary II died in 1694 and William ruled alone until his death in 1702. Queen Anne (1702 - 1714) Queen Anne was the sister of Mary II and was married to Prince George of Denmark.

She was a committed Protestant and supported the Glorious Revolution that deposed her father and replaced him with her sister and brother-in-law. In 1707 the Act of Union formally united the Kingdoms of England and Scotland. She was the last Stuart monarch as none of her eighteen children survived beyond infancy. Quiz: BBC - History - Anne History z Portrait of Queen Anne from the school of John Closterman © Anne was the last of the Stuart monarchs, and the first sovereign of Great Britain. Anne was born on 6 February 1665 in London, the second daughter of James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II. She spent her early years in France living with her aunt and grandmother. Although Anne's father was a Catholic, on the instruction of Charles II Anne and her sister Mary were raised as Protestants. In 1683, Anne married Prince George of Denmark. It was to be a happy marriage, although marred by Anne's frequent miscarriages, still births and the death of children in infancy. In 1685, Anne's father James became king. He was overthrown in 1688 and Anne's sister Mary, and her Dutch husband William, took the throne.

Anne became their heir and with the death of Mary (1694) and then William, with no children, in 1702 Anne was queen. Within months, the War of the Spanish Succession began. A series of military victories by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, including the Battle of Blenheim strengthened England's negotiating position at the end of the war. Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France recognised Anne's title over that of James II's Roman Catholic son, James Stuart and confirmed England's possession of Gibraltar. The last years of the 17th century had seen differing policies pursued by parliaments in England and Scotland which included disagreements over the succession. The solution seemed to be unification and so on 1 May 1707 England and Scotland were combined into a single kingdom, and Anne became the first sovereign of Great Britain. One British parliament would meet at Westminster, and there would be a common flag and coinage but Scotland would keep its own established Church and its systems of law and education. Politically, Anne's reign was marked by the development of the two party system, with Whigs and Tories competing for power.

Anne hoped to rule through mixed ministries, but in 1708 the Whigs became dominant. In 1710 there was a major shift to the Tories, which lasted until her death. Anne allowed herself to be heavily influenced by her ministers and her favourites, particularly her friend Sarah Churchill, wife of the duke of Marlborough. Anne died on 1 August 1714. Her only surviving son William had died in 1700, prompting parliament to pass the Act of Settlement (1701) to ensure a Protestant succession. Anne was therefore succeeded by the German Protestant prince George, Elector of Hanover. Anne, the last Stuart monarch, (Book, 1937) [WorldCat.org] The E-mail message field is required. Please enter the message. E-mail Message: I thought you might be interested in this item at Title: Anne, the last Stuart monarch, Author: Neville Connell Publisher: London, T. Butterworth [1937] OCLC:2476737 The ReCaptcha terms you entered were incorrect. Please try to match the 2 words shown in the window, or try the audio version.

Queen Anne Stuart of England Queen Anne of England Anne Stuart was an unlikely person to become queen of England. She was born on February 6, 1665 to the Duke and Duchess of York and was their second daughter out of three children. Shortly before her birth, her uncle, King Charles II, had married and seemed destined to have a large family after fathering several illegitimate children. But he had no more children. As Anne grew older she would be plagued by numerous health problems, but she survived to adulthood. She only received a limited education, yet Anne would reign during a critically important period in her nation's history. During her reign she would oversee two major events in English history, one domestic and one foreign. The first being the Act of Union that united England and Scotland. The second was a major international war, the War of Spanish Succession. Best remembered as the last of the Stuart dynasty Anne had no heirs. The events of her reign would pave the way for Britain to become an international world power. Although born into royalty, her education was similar to that of other aristocratic girls: languages and music. Her knowledge of history was limited and she received no instruction in civil law or military matters that most male monarchs were expected to have.

She was also a sickly child, and may have suffered from the blood disease porphyria, as well as having poor vision and a serious case of smallpox at the age of twelve. Poor health would plague Anne her entire life, probably contributing to her many miscarriages. Anne grew up in an atmosphere of controversy. Her father James, the Duke of York, and both her mother and later her stepmother were Roman Catholic. They would have preferred to raise Anne and Mary (their only children to survive early childhood) as Roman Catholics. Nevertheless, prominent Protestants, such as Henry Compton, later bishop of London, interceded and ensured the girls would not only be required to attend Protestant services but that they also receive Protestant religious instruction. Anne's life dramatically changed when the Lord Treasurer and Earl of Danby, in an attempt to strengthen his influence with King Charles II, arranged the marriage of Anne's sister, Mary, to William of Orange. Their father, the Duke of York, had wanted to wed Mary to the heir to the French throne, a Roman Catholic. Danby persuaded by the King to allow the marriage to William, a Dutch Protestant and an enemy of France, thus straining the close relationship between Anne and Mary.

Anne married Prince George of Denmark. This was an arrangement Anne's father negotiated in secret with sponsorship by King Louis XIV of France, who hoped for a Anglo-Danish alliance against William of Orange and the Dutch. No such alliance would ever materialize. Her husband did not affect Anne's position as he remained politically weak and inactive, suffering from a drinking problem. Prince George's influence in matters of state would remain small throughout their marriage. The relationship he had with Anne was a close one and she loved him deeply, however, their marriage was saddened by Anne's twelve miscarriages and the fact that none of their other five children reached adulthood. When King Charles II died in 1686, Anne's father became King James II. His Roman Catholicism and his desire to rule without Parliament's input caused Parliament to call on William of Orange and Mary to take the throne, in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This revolution created a constitutional, limited monarchy in England, where elected representatives, not a dynastic monarch, truly ruled. Interestingly, later Queen Anne became the last British monarch to veto an act of Parliament. Anne supported the revolution and opposed her father. Mary allowed her husband to rule, and neither got along with Anne during their reign.

But since they never had children, after Mary died, followed by William, in 1702, the throne then passed to Anne. The Settlement Act of 1701 paved the way for Anne's reign. It stated that if Anne died without children the throne would pass to the German Hanoverians. The only challenge was her half brother James, a Roman Catholic living in exile in France. Thus Anne ascended as the last Stuart monarch, and was the first married queen to rule England. Anne's reign would be characterized by the attempts of others to manipulate her. Most significantly among these individuals was Sarah Churchill. A friend of Anne's since childhood, Anne leaned heavily on her for companionship. After Anne's marriage she named Sarah to the prestigious position of Lady of the Bedchamber. After Anne became queen, she named Sarah to other prominent posts including Keeper of the Privy Purse, Mistress of the Robes and Groom of the Stole. Their relationship for many years was a close one with Anne showering Sarah with large allowances and gifts, such as the huge and extravagant Blenheim estate. The estate was given to the Churchill's as a reward for John Churchill's important military victory in the War of Spanish Succession.

Anne often seemed dependent on Sarah, at least for emotional support. Anne would constantly write to Sarah when Sarah was away from the court attending to her family. Anne's letters made it seem like she could not get along without Sarah. They would use playful pseudonyms when writing to each other: Anne being Mrs. Morley and Sarah Mrs. Freeman. Their relationship would eventually deteriorate due to Sarah's nagging and their many petty arguments. Sarah would fall out of favor and would be replaced as Anne's favorite by a distant cousin, Abigail Masham. The end of Anne's friendship with Sarah signaled a change in political influences as well. Although Anne had always been a strong Tory throughout her reign she had vigorously supported the War of Spanish Succession, a Whig war. Sarah Churchill was a Whig and her husband John, though a Tory, was the leading English general in the conflict. Because of the Churchill's influence, Anne had always been inclined to support the war which was the most important event in foreign affairs during Anne's reign. However, when Abigail Masham a Tory replaced Sarah as Anne's close friend it signaled a shift in politics.

Some historians believe Anne manipulated her ministers to enact the policies she wanted while others see her as a monarch manipulated by her ministers. Whatever the case, when the Tories came into power they negotiated an end to the war. The Settlement Act of 1701 had angered Scotland where the Stuart dynasty had originated. The Scots threatened to bring back James, Anne's Roman Catholic half-brother and pretender to the throne, to rule. To head off a revolt and unite support for the crown, Anne pushed for the Act of Union which would unite England and Scotland. The Act of Union was finally accepted in 1707. In the last couple years of her life Anne became very ill. She was often bedridden and attended to by doctors. These doctors used many techniques to try to cure Anne including bleeding her and applying hot irons. These crude medicinal techniques probably did more harm than good, and Anne died on July 31st 1714. Annotated Bibliography Ashley, Maurice. The Stuarts in Love. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1964. This book is intended to deal with the personal lives and loves of the members of the Stuart dynasty.

It begins in the first section by discussing love and marriages of each class of English society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It then goes on to discuss each of the Stuart monarchs, dedicating two chapters to each one. The two chapters dedicated to Queen Anne are entitled "The extravagant passions of Queen Anne." These chapters briefly discuss Anne's early life and love life. The main focus concern Anne's friendships, particularly with Sarah Churchill, and how these relationships intertwined with politics. These chapters go farther than Anne's personal life and talk extensively about her reign and the major events of that period. These chapters are brief biographies that go beyond Anne's personal life. Finally, this author concludes that Anne was not someone bullied by those vying for her affection, but rather a monarch who had a firm policy and pursued it in the manner she saw fit. This book provides a good list of footnotes at the end of each chapter. Overall though, the information contained in it can be found in other sources. Bucholz, Robert O. " 'Nothing but Ceremony': Queen Anne." Journal of British Studies. 30 (1991): 288-323.

This is an interesting article in which the author sets out to write about an aspect of Queen Anne's reign he says has been neglected; her use of royal ritual to unite Britain. Bucholz states Anne uses royal ritual and ceremony in a couple of different ways. She uses ritual to make political statements and to demonstrate the monarchy was above the squabbling of partisan politics. He discusses Anne's use of parallels between herself and Queen Elizabeth and the use of the analogy of Anne being the mother to the people of England. He also discusses Anne's use of ceremony during special occasions to rally support for the monarchy. Bucholz concludes Anne's use of royal ritual was ultimately a failure because of her inability to unite the various political factions. These politicians were important subjects who were not dependent on the monarchy for their status in society. Though Anne reached back in history to reestablish Bucholz says she inadvertently brought about a future in which the main role of the monarchy was ceremonial, to represent the state. The monarchy was then limited and not able to rally people as effectively. This is an interesting article on a unique topic which is extensively footnoted and has a good bibliography. Clark, Sir George.

The Later Stuarts 1660-1714 . 2nd Ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961. This book was written as part of a fourteen volume series of the history of England. This book covers English history from the time of the restoration until the death of Queen Anne. The book begins by discussing Anne's reign with the War of Spanish Succession followed by Whigs and Tories. Clark sees Anne as a weak and bullied monarch, sometimes not more than a figurehead. He sees are as appointing and dismissing ministers in accordance with her emotions rather than sound judgment. The only area that she ruled significantly in , he says, is in her religious appointments where her influence was great. He dedicates more time to events of social and political trends during her reign than to Anne herself. He does mention Queen Anne's Bounty, the money that she annually gave to the poor. Near the end of the book, he takes a topical approach and addresses economics, the criminal code, overseas colonies, arts and literature and other aspects of Anne's reign not found in other sources. This book has an annotated bibliography organized by topic, charts of the Stuart family, many maps and an appendix listing the important government ministers.

This book is an excellent source for events and topics of Queen Anne's reign not covered elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is little personal biographical information about Anne herself. Curtis, Gila. The Life and Times of Queen Anne. London: Wiedenfeld and Nicolson Limited, 1972. An easy read, this book is written for a non-scholarly general audience. It is packed with a large number of illustrations of people, places, and events prominent during Queen Anne's life. It has no footnotes and only a brief bibliography, although it does contain many excerpts from primary source material.The book is divided into eight sections, each covering a different time period of Anne's life. Although not as detailed as some of the more scholarly works, this is a complete biography covering all aspects and major events of Anne's life and reign.It is particularly good in showing Anne's relationship and eventual falling out with Sarah Churchill. Also, it competently explains the political struggle of Whigs and Tories during Queen Anne's reign. Gregg, Edward. Queen Anne. London: Routledge & Kegan, Paul, 1980. R.O.

Bucholz, Assistant Professor of History at Loyola University, in his article says that this book is the definitive biography of Queen Anne. This is a well written and thorough biography with frequent quotations from primary source material which is extensively footnoted and documented. The author cites many items previously unavailable from the archives in Britain and overseas as well as his use of works of other contemporary scholars as the unique characteristics of his work. His book tries to refute the claims of Sarah Churchill and others who have followed her interpretation of Queen Anne. These interpretations often painted Anne as weak, indecisive, dominated by others and as a monarch who let policy be affected by petty personal squabbles.Gregg sees Queen Anne as more important and attempts to give a balanced portrayal of her public and private life. Gregg believes that Queen Anne was a strong, careful and calculating monarch, was driven by ambition and resolve, and who asserted her authority without trampling on parliamentary authority. He also portrays Anne pursuing a course of political moderation. She is not someone dominated by changes in the strengths of different political parties. Rather, a monarch not controlled by either party who had ministers from both parties and changed them in order to pursue policies of which she approved.

This extensive work and its bold interpretation of Queen Anne make this book an extremely useful source. Green, David. Queen Anne. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970. In this work, the author presents a work more complex than most. He sees her not as a great monarch and not one who was weak and ineffective. He sees her as a courageous queen who did her best despite many personal and political obstacles that would have been difficult for any monarch. Even though obstacles proved too difficult for her, she always did her best to carry out her duties. He also makes the point that Anne was a transitional monarch. She was not a powerful Divine Right monarch but one who was moving toward a constitutional monarchy in which Parliament had the power, although that form of government hadn't fully emerged. This is a good source with frequent quoting from primary sources and contains an extensive bibliography. The author's appendix on the health of Queen Anne is a unique feature of this book. Harris, Frances. "Accounts of the Conduct of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, 1704-1742" British Library Journal (1982): 7-35.

This article focuses on the writings of Queen Anne's close friend and confidant Sarah Churchill. It provides some insight on Sarah's and Anne's turbulent relationship. Mainly, it addresses what Sarah wrote and when she wrote it. It provides some context by discussing Sarah's motivations when she wrote something as well as events surrounding that time. It also discusses who assisted Sarah with her writings and precisely what role they had in writing and compiling her papers. Finally, it discusses the organization of Sarah Churchill's papers. This is an excellent resource for those interested in serious research of the papers of Sarah Churchill. Although Sarah's papers undoubtedly contain a wealth of information on Queen Anne this article has only limited information on the topic. Kishlansky, Mark. A Monarchy Transformed. Allen Lane: The Penguin Press, 1996. This is the sixth volume in a nine volume Penguin History of Britain and covers the entire reign of the Stuart dynasty. As the title suggests, the author sees the Stuart dynasty as a time when the monarch and England itself were greatly changed. The monarchy evolved into a constitutional monarchy from a more absolute one. The nation itself also became more unified and grew to include a large overseas empire. Many of these changes occurred during Queen Anne's reign.

Mentioned sporadically elsewhere, the last chapter focuses on Anne and her reign. It focuses a lot on the politics of her reign. Also included in the chapter is information relating to the War of Spanish Succession. This chapter is of some, but not great usefulness in studying Queen Anne. The book does include a section entitled 'For Further Reading,' which is organized by monarch and is helpful on finding other sources of information about Queen Anne. Trevelyan, George Macauly. England Under the Stuarts. History of England, vol. V. London: Methuen Co., LTD., reprinted 1961. This is a book by the author who wrote the ground-breaking and most important work on Queen Anne: the three volume work England Under Queen Anne. Trevelyan writes about the Stuart dynasty as his contribution to an eight volume history of England. The final chapter of the book is dedicated to the reign of Queen Anne. This chapter gives extensive treatment to the events of Anne's reign. The Queen herself is not the major focus although she is often mentioned and her friendship with Sarah Churchill and Abigal Masham are discussed. The politics of the Whigs and Tories and the War of Spanish Succession are extensively discussed.

Trevelyan also pays more attention than most authors to the class structure as it related to political party makeup. His use of marginal headings are useful guides to topics of particular paragraphs. Also, he makes extensive use of maps; a Trevelyan trademark. Footnotes are located at the bottom of each page and are well done, as is the extensive bibliography. This is an excellent user-friendly source for the events of Anne's reign. WEBSITES "Monarchs of England ANNE (1702-14AD)". < > (November 9, 2004). This article provides only superficial background information on Queen Anne's life. It focuses mainly on her reign. It gives particular attention to those vying for influence over Anne especially Sarah Churchill and Abigal Hill. This is a useful source for background information on this aspect of Queen Anne's life. Royal Household. "Anne." The official website of the British monarchy. n.d. < > (November 9, 2004). This article comes from . This article provides only brief background information about Anne's life and gives almost no attention to her friendship with the Churchills. Its main focus is on the role government and politics played in Queen Anne's reign.

It is a good resource for basic information about politics during the reign of Queen Anne. "Sir William Wallace of Elerslie - Queen Anne and the 1707 Act of Union". < >. This article focuses on the Act of Union of 1707 and Queen Anne's role in advocating for it. It makes the ironic point that Queen Anne was the last Stuart monarch, which was originally a Scottish dynasty, and the last monarch to rule and independent Scotland. Yet Anne pushed for an act that effectively ended Scottish independence. The article tries to make the connection with Sir William Wallace who fought in the 1200's for Scottish independence. Ironically this article claims it was a "Scottish" monarch who ended Scotland's independence. This article is somewhat biased and minimizes Anne's accomplishments. Surprisingly, this article provides good background information on her early life. This was the most unique website article found about Queen Anne. Copied from this website?< > (5 January 2004). < >. Queen Anne.

1664-1714 EARLY LIFE The last of England's Stuart monarchs, Queen Anne, the younger daughter of James II and Anne Hyde , was born on 6th February, 1664 at St. James' Palace, London. Anne suffered from a weakness in her eyes from childhood and was sent to France to consult an oculist when she was four years old, she was to remain very short-sighted all her life and suffered from a squint. She spent the first part of her visit with her French grandmother, Henrietta Maria , but when the Dowager Queen died Anne went to live with her Aunt Henriette Anne, Duchess of Orleans , informally known in the family as 'Minette'. Minette was taken violently ill in 1670, and died soon after amongst rumours of poison. Her five year old niece was then returned to her parents in England. Anne's mother was mortally ill, it is suspected of breast cancer. Anne had not been back in England a year when Anne Hyde died, she was only six, possibly too young to remember her mother well.

Sarah Jennings, a girl older than herself, became a firm favourite, with whom she formed a close relationship, Sarah later married a young army officer, named John Churchill. PRINCE GEORGE OF DENMARK A marriage was arranged for Princess Anne with Prince George of Denmark (pictured right), a good-looking young man, who was tall and blonde. The marriage took place on 28th July, 1683. Despite his good looks, George was rather dull and stupid, he also had a rather unpleasant fondness for the bottle. Charles II rather unkindly said of George " I have tried him drunk and I have tried him sober and there is nothing in him." Anne and George, however, became devoted to each other. After her marriage, her favourite Sarah Jennings was appointed as her Lady of the Bedchamber. When William of Orange landed in 1688, the Protestant Anne deserted her Catholic father, a heart breaking experience for him, despite his many faults he had been a doting father to both his daughters. William and Mary were jointly offered the throne. The two sisters had an emotional reunion on Mary's return from Holland, which unfortunately did not endure and they soon fell into disagreement.

Anne came to strongly resent William's much voiced low opinion of her husband. RELATIONS WITH MARY Anne's relations with her sister Mary continued to deteriorate, Anne added to the growing ill-feeling by calling William such names as "Caliban" and "the Dutch abortion" behind his back. When Sarah's husband, John Churchill, was sent to the Tower, Anne openly sided with the Churchills against her sister. Finally, they ceased to communicate. Sarah Jennings influence over Anne grew steadily. Sarah was one of the great beauties of her age, Anne suggested that they should correspond with each other as Mrs. Morley (Anne) and Mrs. Freeman (Sarah) to demonstrate the equality of their relationship. Mary died of Smallpox in 1694, but coldly, Anne did not even visit her on her death-bed. A surprising but superficial reconciliation took place between Anne and William, even the previously detested Churchill was received back into the royal favour. In 1701, James II died at St. Germain in France. Anne received a letter from her step-mother, Mary of Modena, informing her that before he had died James forgave her and asked her to make reparations to his son.

Anne sent no reply to the letter. but she did go into mourning for her father, an act which evoked the annoyance of William. In February 1702, William III himself died, making Anne Queen of England and Scotland at the age of thirty-eight. WILLIAM DUKE OF GLOUCESTER Anne had eighteen pregnancies in all but of these only three of her children survived, two daughters, Mary and Anne Sophia, both died in infancy of smallpox. A daughter, Mary born on 14 October 1690, lived for only about two hours and a son George born on 17 April 1692 lived but a few minutes. William, Duke of Gloucester was her only surviving child. Her figure ruined, Anne was now obese and decidedly middle aged, she also began to suffer very badly from gout. At 5 am on 24th July, 1688, at Hampton Court Palace, Anne was delivered of a son, who was christened William Henry. King Willliam III, his uncle, stood as one of his godfathers. The other godparents were his uncle King Christian V of Denmark, and the Marchioness of Halifax.

and he was later announced Duke of Gloucester. William's health was poor throughout his life. He suffered convulsions soon after he was born, his parents feared he would die and he remained a constant source of anxiety to his adoring parents. William suffered from hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, an incurable condition and was unable to walk unaided at the age of five. The symptoms of hydrocephalus include an enlarged head, problems with balance, poor coordination, difficulty walking, slowing or loss of developmental progress, lethargy and drowsiness. The illness affected William so badly that he could not walk alone, because the movement of fluid in his head when he did so made him giddy. Intermittently, his surgeons pierced his head and drew off the fluid. All his short life was punctuated by regular attacks caused by his condition. A contemporary wrote of him 'His head was extremely long and large, which made him very difficult to be fitted with a wig. His hat, poor infant, at five years old, was large enough for most men!' William, was said to be was close to his uncle and namesake William III, who created him a Knight of the Garter at St.

George's Chapel, Windsor on his seventh birthday. His aunt Mary, who was equally fond of him frequently sent him presents and visited him at his nursery in Campden House. At Kensington, Gloucester befriended his Welsh body-servant, Jenkin Lewis, whose memoir is an important source for historians. With Lewis, the boy operated his own miniature army, called the "Horse Guards", eventually comprising 90 boys. William celebrated his eleventh birthday on 24 July 1700 with a banquet and firework display at Windsor Castle. Always a delicate child, he complained of feeling unwell the following day and tragically, his condition continued to deteriorate. His mother kept an agonizing vigil at his bedside, he died at around 1 a.m. on 30 July, 1700, with both his parents at his bedside. An autopsy revealed he had severe swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck and an abnormal amount of fluid in the ventricles of his brain. In his book 'The Sickly Stuarts: The Medical Downfall of a Dynasty' Frederick Holmes analyzed the report of the autopsy.

He wrote - "This autopsy report painstakingly describes inflammation and infection in the throat and larynx, with a grossly swollen neck and pus expressed from lymph nodes in this region. The lungs are described as both being full of blood, likely this was pus or fluid stained with blood. Put in context with the clinical course of the illness, this is a picture of an acute bacterial infection of the throat with an associated pneumonia in both lungs." Holmes further writes, "Interestingly, the surgeons opened the head and took fluid from the ventricles, and found it to be greatly increased in amount.This confirms the diagnosis of hydrocephalus." William III, who was in the Netherlands at the time, wrote "It is so great a loss to me as well as to all England, that it pierces my heart." The young William was buried in Westminster Abbey on 9th August. There is evidence to suggest that Anne saw the death of all her children as God's punishment for the way she had treated her own father. She was ridden with a guilt complex about her desertion of the father she was never to see again. REIGN Three days later Anne addressed Parliament as Queen.

Her dress was modeled on one worn by Elizabeth I , she drew a further parallel with the great Queen by stressing that she was "entirely English" as Elizabeth had done when succeeding her sister Mary and her unpopular foreign husband. Anne assured Parliament that there was nothing she would not do to promote the "happiness or prosperity of England". On 4th May, 1702, England declared war against France. Churchill, leading the Queen's troops, experienced early successes in the war and was rewarded by being created Duke of Marlborough. He went on to gain a historic victory over the French at Blenheim in Bavaria. Anne held a thanksgiving service at St. Paul's and granting him the royal estate at Woodstock and ordered Blenheim Palace built on the site at the expense of the nation. A Further victory followed at Ramillies in Flanders. Louis XIV consequently gave aid to Anne's Catholic half-brother, and claimant to her throne, James Francis Edward . A French fleet was assembled at Dunkirk in 1708.

Whilst meeting with her Council to discuss the matter, the question of whether James should be executed if taken prisoner was raised, Anne became so moved and emotionally upset that she could not carry on with the meeting. James unfortunately came down with measles just as his fleet was about to set sail, the threat was removed and the French fleet chased north. SARAH CHURCHILL Sarah Churchill, always a quarrelsome woman, was growing increasingly jealous and at times vehement at Anne's growing attachment to her cousin, Lady Masham. Marlborough, a gifted general, won a further victory against the French at Oudenarde and entered France, capturing Lille, he went on to gain a further resounding victory over Louis XIV at Malplaquet. Sarah's now stormy relationship with Anne, however, was growing successively more strained. On the way to the Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul's to celebrate the victory of Oudenarde, Sarah provoked an embarrassing public scene, which culminated in her audaciously telling the Queen to "be quiet" on the steps of the Cathedral. Anne could not forgive this public humiliation and it widened the breech between them into a gaping chasm.

Although the crowns of England and Scotland had been united in the person of James I, they had continued to retain their own separate Parliaments. In 1707, both the English and Scottish Parliaments passed the twin Acts of Union, creating the joint kingdom of Great Britain. The act was not popular in Scotland. George of Denmark fell seriously ill in October, 1708. Sarah visited Anne and was with her when her husband died to offer her support. Queen Anne was devastated. Sarah, true to character, untactfully continued to raise old quarrels with the grieving Queen and would not let the matter rest. Anne's patience with the fractious Sarah was wearing very thin. Sarah wrote requesting an audience, the Queen, trying to avoid the dreaded ordeal of another meeting with her, wrote that she would be unable to see her until after Easter. Undeterred, Sarah arrived before Easter and characteristically proceeded to bring up a matter of contention, Anne had had enough, the two were never to meet again. At the end of the war the great Marlborough was dismissed from office. It was a poor reward for the services he had rendered his country and the Queen.

THE FINAL YEARS As Anne entered the final years of her reign and her health declined, the issue of who should succeed her on the thrones of England and Scotland became of mounting importance. Anne personally disliked the Hanoverians, whom the succession had been settled on by Act of Parliament. Sophia of Hanover's son, George, had at one point been sent to England as a prospective suitor for Anne's hand, but after meeting her failed to propose, Anne could not forget this stinging insult to her feminine pride. It was suspected that Anne naturally preferred the claims of her half-brother, James, known as the Pretender. The Queen herself fueled such rumours by refusing to allow any of Sophia of Hanover's family to reside in England. In 1712 Anne received a letter from the brother she had never met, asking her to 'prefer your own brother, the last of our line,' he received no reply but she refused to countenance the suggestion of Parliament's putting a price on his head. When Sophia of Hanover wrote to request that her grandson might take up his position in the House of Lords, Anne's response was furious. Her letter to Sophia was cold and dismissive.

Sophia, whose greatest wish was said to have had 'Sophia, Queen of Great Britain' inscribed on her tomb, narrowly missed her ambition when she died suddenly at Hanover just a few months before Queen Anne on 8th June 1714. On 27th July Anne finally decided in favour of the Hanoverian succession. At half past seven in the morning of 1st August, 1714, England's last Stuart monarch, now vastly obese and ailing, died at Kensington Palace. Arbuthnot wrote "sleep was never more welcome to a weary traveller than death was to her." The Queen's body was so swollen with dropsy at her death that she had to be interred in a vast, square shaped coffin. She was buried beside her husband George of Denmark at Westminster Abbey and was succeeded by George I , the first of the House of Hanover. Anne, the last Stuart monarch (1937 edition) | Open Library Anne, the last Stuart monarch Neville Connell Anne, the last Stuart monarch Close Anne, the last Stuart monarch Bibliography: p. 281-289; "Notes" (authorities) : p. 291-311.

Classifications 337, [1] p. incl. front. (port.) Number of pages Add an ISBN to link to booksellers Lists You could add Anne, the last Stuart monarch to a list if you log in . Are you sure you want to remove Anne, the last Stuart monarch from your list? History Created April 1, 2008 · 2 revisions

Question: Who was the last Stuart monarch?
Answer: Anne